I resized a greatball from my hip and for half a second Lance perked up. Ah, so he had noticed that Titan’s pokeball was a greatball variant, had he? He was twitchy for my ‘Ace’ to arrive. This match obviously was getting to him a bit if he was on the lookout for my starter pokemon as much as I was for his. Seems I might have shaken his cage with my early success.

“Go Bertha!” I shouted.

From the ball a large form emerged from mid-air to land on the ground with a quake rocking the arena.

From the light, a large bipedal, grey and rust-brown coloured pokemon emerged. She was a heavy beast covered in rugged armour that shifted with careful steps, each footfall causing a feeling of the world shifting as she adjusted her stance. On her head, two horns buzzed as they whirled to life. You couldn’t notice it as much, but her fingers could also spin up like smaller, if blunter, drill rotors. She raised her arms and roared at her entrance.

“RHY! RHYPERIOR!”

“OH!? WHO’S THAT POKEMON?!” The commentators were leaning forward in shock. The air in the arena seemed to grow thin as a thousand lungs gasped in surprise.

Another commentator took up the silence as an invitation, “WHAT’S THIS!? NOT ONLY DOES HE HAVE ANCIENT POKEMON, BUT HE ALSO HAS AN ULTRA-RARE POKEMON! SOMEONE CALL A PROFESSOR! WHO IS THAT POKEMON!?”

I had been forced to spend almost two weeks searching up and down Mt. Mortar during the offseason to have her evolve. I had yet to encounter another trainer to have one so I was probably way ahead of the curve with getting my Rhydon a Protector or, rather as I’d found, a magma alloy hood that sparked her evolution.

Lance narrowed his eyes but didn’t react otherwise. His Dragonite flourished its head back and forth in agitation. The referee glanced at both Lance and me before raising his flag. “Begin!”

“Ascend!”

“Track it Bertha,” I ordered.

My pokemon lifted her head and slowly swiveled her head around. “Now, Stone Edge,” She raised her arms and swaths of stone the size of normal Gravellers rose off the ground before being compressed into mere head-sized boulders. They launched upwards far faster only for Dragonite to dance around them, the dragon easily weaving in and out of danger despite Bertha’s best attempts.

I scowled at the dancing Dragon. Apparently the break had done it a great favor in allowing it to somewhat regather its energy.

Rocks roared through the air but the Dragonite was like a leaf on the wind. Lance allowed this for a long minute before nodding to himself as the barrage stopped.

“Rest,” he called out firmly.

His Dragonite didn’t question him and instead shut its eyes while in mid-air. Notably, it did not stop flying and instead maintained its altitude.

“Stone Edge,” I ordered. This seemed oddly disrespectful of Lance. The move was good to use in case his pokemon got worn down like Don had achieved but it should have made it a sitting duck.

This time the rocks soared up, closing on the slumbering dragon. Only for the pokemon to twitch a wing and fade to the side out of the strike zone.

I could only watch on in shock as each wave of Rock that followed was almost as easily evaded.

A twitch or flap of the wing that saw it slowly losing altitude. A few rocks scrapped along the Dragon’s side but none of the rocks struck cleanly, allowing the damage to actually occur.

I looked down to see a very smug-looking Lance watching me. I clicked my tongue.

A fusion move.

A move that was created from combining two or more moves together. This was a sign of just how highly trained this pokemon was in a speciality. Lance would have had to hone it in this move above all others. I had to admit it was an amazing trump card to pull during a high-stakes match. Then he’d combined it with rest. I suspected it might have been a flying-type move, rest and detect or sleep talk all merged together. There would be entire threads about this reveal on the pokenet later.

He must have trained this pokemon extensively to be able to evade in its sleep even to that margin. I could probably continue to fire up at it with Bertha’s Stone Edge and get it to where it would be if Lance hadn’t achieved Rest but that was not taking into account how much energy it would take out of Bertha.

There would be nothing stopping him from getting off another rest. I needed to force his hand.

I needed to swing for the stands with a home run.

I swept my arm up. “Bertha! Stop the barrage and hang ten!” Bertha snorted, the equivalent of a giggle for her. Around her, small boulders dropped to the ground showing she’d relaxed her control of them. Instead of grasping for rock, water rose up from the grates and surged towards her. The crowd shouted warnings, worried about some form of treachery.

Instead of fearing the water, Bertha grinned as she stepped back. Her position dropped into a wide stance as the wave surged up more like a tsunami.

It rose high and Bertha popped up on the top with her arms crossed. Her maw stretched wide as she stunned an entire stadium with her unexpected move.

“THAT ROCK POKEMON IS SURFING! I CANNOT BELIEVE MY EYES!” screamed the commentator over the roaring water.

“IT’S PUT HER IN RANGE!” cried out the other commentator, having caught what I was aiming for. If the attacks were too easily read and avoided, I simply needed to close the distance. Something that Lance was not going to oblige me with.

“Dragonite! Awaken!” Lance shouted as my pokemon reached ten meters away from the slumbering pokemon.

“Dra?” The pokemon replied sleepily.

“Ice beam,” I ordered. This time it was Lance’s turn to look at me in shock while I shot him a smug look.

“Get out of there Dragonite!” He cried out.

In front of Bertha, a blue ball of energy built up before instantly discharging. The speedy dragon was quick enough to roll to the side but that didn’t stop the ice from clipping it. It roared in pain at the hit and I was pleased to see part of its limb coated in ice.

That was going to pay out dividends for me. Dividends I planned to cash instantly.

“Get under the wave out of range! Hide in the swell!” In another fight and another trainer it might have worked. It was probably a good idea against others. It should have forced me to pick a side that the Dragon might appear from. I didn’t want to play that game.

I’d fought against Priscilla at Mikan Island Gym’s water race. I had shamelessly gotten to steal Ash’s move of freezing waves.

“Aim at your wave!” Bertha instantly turned the ice beam onto the wave beneath her forcing the heavier part to sink even as the ice expanded outward. Now instead of forcing a fifty-fifty split I had entrapped Lance in the wave that was collapsing fast. He could only force his pokemon out of the wave through ice now. Something no Dragon would be able to shrug off.

With an idea of the next few sequence of events, I committed myself. “Jump up!” I ordered Bertha before the wave could collapse any further.

The frozen wave collapsed more like an avalanche upon Dragonite. “Get out of there Dragonite!”

The Dragonite shot towards one of the few openings it had available only for the ice that had frozen on its leg to catch onto the collapsing structure. It spun out into the wave and screamed as more ice collapsed upon it. Lance clenched his jaw.

“Hyper beam out of there!”

Before the ice could fully entomb the dragon and end the fight the hyperbeam punched upward and out, opening an avenue to rise. The attack was short-lived but it would have been enough for Dragonite to get out of danger.

Would have been, if not for Bertha sailing in from her previous jump. She performed a perfect unscripted bodyslam and used Dragonite like a stamp to leave an impression in the ground as ice exploded outwards. I honestly wanted to lean back and congratulate myself for everything going to plan.

“Dragonite! Gain distance!”

The smile I gave Lance was feral. Now, his pokemon was in the perfect strike range for my Bertha.

“Finish him,” I said as Bertha raised the Dragonite up in one hand while the other hand’s fingers spun up.

The finger drills whined as they spun up and she cocked her off-hand before it rocketed through the space and into Dragonite. The roar of pain it gave was high pitched before dying off quickly as Bertha held it up. It slumped in her grasp. In a darker world, I might have ordered another hit.

In this world, Lance merely raised his pokeball and withdrew his pokemon.

Bertha raised her fists and pumped them up and down before roaring out her triumph for all to hear. The crowd fell silent at the brutal power she had displayed. I grinned at her and nodded when she looked to me for praise.

“Excellent as always girl,” I gave her a big thumbs up which had her pumping her fists more like a happy school girl rather than the giant brute she was. Then I directed her attention back to where her opponent would appear. Lance was now looking very annoyed. I shot him a grin. I’d once more reclaimed the momentum. In doing so, I had revealed one of my aces but this was worth it.

But only one of the aces regarding this pokemon. She had another ace up her sleeve that might just carry me through. Even without revealing that ace yet, people understood that she was a powerhouse. Lance continued to toy with his pokeball before lifting his hand towards the greatball on his necklace. I watched this play out for a few more seconds before chuckling.

“Really, you’re dragging?” I said as I glanced towards the ice that was… very slowly melting.

Lance gave me a sardonic smile before selecting the pokeball. “It’s a valid strategy. I had to use it against Pryce as he kept freezing the field in my bid to become Champion.” Lance gestured to the field, “I’m surprised that you haven’t had more pokemon use ice attacks so far.”

“I had other options available for me.” I settled into a relaxed pose as my gaze turned towards the clock. “Gonna run out your minute?”

Lance nodded watching the ice begin to trickle. The commentators quickly picked up on the tactic and I just knew that the people at home were being forced into an impromptu ad break. I rolled my eyes. Lance couldn’t just throw out his pokemon now. It wasn’t something typically used but it was certainly a valid tactic. Referees were allowed to give trainers a minute to make their selection between rounds. True field effects like Stealth rock or toxic spikes wouldn’t fade over time like a field that had magma or even ice.

It was therefore worth keeping your cool and playing out the minute. Other matches wouldn’t allow this break, demanding an immediate withdrawal and response from trainers. We didn’t have to worry about that. The crowd got a little restless but that was something that you needed to learn to ignore at times. Allowing the whims of the crowd to dictate your pace was just a method of giving away matches.

I checked over Bertha and saw that while she had not taken any actual damage she had obviously had to use quite a few moves. She’d been much more mobile than most of her species were known for. She was more of a juggernaut, not that most people would know that with her current rarity.

“TEN!” I straightened as Lance’s minute wore down. The field hadn’t lost much of the ice but it had become more of a slurry rather than actual chunks that I might have been able to use.

“NINE!” I watched him sweep his cape out dramatically and the crowd roared as he worked up his throw to have it landing and discharging moments before he might have been penalized for his late send out.

I stared at the pokemon that was revealed instead of paying any attention to the cheering crowd that had enjoyed Lance’s showmanship.

The Kingdra that appeared I had been expecting, but not this late into the match up. If he’d brought it out against Sanchez I might have been much further ahead now. Apparently, he’d been holding onto it in case I got this far along.

I had recalled that it was a water-dragon hybrid and hoped to one-two it with the Gyrados.

“OH! AND NOW IT’S THE CHAMPION’S TURN TO REVEAL A RARE POKEMON! WHO IS IT!?”

I blinked in surprise. Had Lance not revealed his Kingdra before? I ran back through the potential teams I thought he might have access to and I’d immediately added in the Kingdra along with the Aerodactyl. A pokemon that he apparently wasn’t going to call out at all. Or did he not have it at all?

Had it appeared in the cartoon?

I watched the Kingdra bob up and down across from me. It stayed well away from the ice. Apparently, he’d never been shown to use it during a public setting until now. Lance was looking at me with a frown before shaking his head. For once I was glad of my normally non-expressive and narrow eyes that made it tough to cold read me.

Mentally, I was pumping my fist up and down. Foreknowledge for the win!

“Trainers! Are you ready!?” shouted the referee.

I resumed my pose and nodded. Lance copied me.

“Ready? Beg—!” “Impact driver!” I shouted before the referee could fully announce the start.

Bertha perked up at the order. Her feet slid apart and one arm rose up to point right at the ground. The other arm lowered to touch the ground as if she’d just performed a three-point landing.

This wasn’t just a pose for style though.

Ideally, I would not have had Bertha be the one to face Lance’s Kingdra. Ideally, it would have been Sanchez or maybe even Shin. That ship had long since been sailed by Lance holding the Kingdra in reserve. Apparently, because he’d never before been forced to call upon it. I hadn’t realized that however, and instead thought it might come out as his third or fourth pokemon. Instead, I’d gotten powerhouses in Charizard and Dragonite.

Now I had it much later than I wanted it to be, where it might cause a lot of problems for me. Bertha was slow. She was a tank that could handle huge amounts of damage. More than almost any of my other pokemon.

Against a speedster like Kindgra I didn’t like her chances with having to rely on ice beam. I doubted Surf would work in my favour. I might even lose if I wasn’t careful. Unless I bucked up and swung for the stands again. Lance wasn’t the only trainer that could create a Fusion move.

“Use Dragon’s dance!” shouted Lance. His eyes locked on the raised arm. He could tell something was up but he obviously wasn’t sure how it was going to come into effect.

The arm began to hum as it vibrated. The drills on each finger spun up faster and faster as the arm pulsed slightly.

“Hydropump!” ordered Lance. From the mouth of his pokemon a torrent of water shot forward and slammed into Bertha. I let it, swallowing at the super effective move hammering into my pokemon. I wished I had another option that could see her deny Kingdra it’s speed. Instead, I held my pose and watched Bertha tank the hit. I clenched up and willed her to hang on.

“Hold, Bertha!”

She grunted. There was no doubt that she felt the hit but instead of the type advantaged attack knocking her out like it had with Lance’s Gyrados, she endured. Her feet were dug in, this was a move I had practised with her time and time again. She just needed to endure the coming onslaught.

“Again!” shouted Lance as he leaned across the railing. His gaze was locked onto the heavily vibrating arm as a whine filled the air.

Once more the Hydropump slammed into Bertha and she groaned, her body trembled now as she shuddered. Her eyes drooped. “BERTHA HANG ON AND THIS FIGHT IS YOURS!”

Lance’s eyes widened. “Bide? Kingdra! END IT NOW!”

I grinned. He only had it partly right. Bide formed only part of the move I was now using. Kingdra inhaled and I decided I needed to pull the trigger.

“NOW BERTHA! IMPAC—” I didn’t get the chance to finish as Kingdra shot out his Hydropump.

Before it hit, Bertha unleashed the stored potential energy she had been building up. Her arm drove through the ground and from the impact site a blinding flash of light exploded outwards.

The arena rocked. The hit landed more like a meteor crashing home rather than a pokemon move. I braced and leaned into the quake. Lance’s cape billowed outwards as he was hit by the shockwave. Around the arena, the damage absorbers shot into active states to take the hits.

The arena itself broke as fissures ruptured out from the point of impact. Canyons of the ground had been torn up revealing the underlying metal that stopped pokemon from merely disappearing into the ground during a match. Around the Kingdra, spiked boulders had slammed up and rammed into the pokemon.

The Kingdra flopped to the ground. Out cold.

The crowd roared to their feet, a clamouring mass of people that had been shaken up from the attack forcing them to stand. I could see some play backs of the crowd getting thrown about with Bertha’s attack.

“OH!!!! BROCK UNLEASHES A ONE HIT K.O!” shouted the commentator.

I exhaled in relief, only to hiss as a much larger body hit the ground. I looked up to see a ragged Bertha staring up at me with tired eyes.

“You did good girl. Better than good, even. Rest now.” I raised her greatball and returned her. She shut her eyes as the red beam of light touched her and let herself fall into sleep.

I eventually looked up from the greatball to see Lance still observing the field. His eyes roamed across the large canyons of damage, and he toyed with his greatball on his necklace. His gaze comes up to meet me and I can see that I have forced his respect now.

We don’t make any move to actually deploy our next pokemon.

We turn away for the final reprieve. There will be no more breaks after this. The next fight would see us putting our pride on the line. This was a battle of starter pokemon.